Preferences!

To do righteousness and justice Is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice [for wrongs repeatedly committed]. PROVERBS 21:3 AMP

We are creatures of feeling, emotion and physical gestures. We interpret people and define them by the things they do and how they do them, without necessarily caring too much why they do these things. We are all about outward gestures and appearances, and we have mastered the art of deception, because we know that ordinary men cannot discern our motives and intentions.

The problem is that we have sought to apply the same measures to our walk with God. We make this dangerous assumptions that we can keep some things away from God, or that we can pretend about our motives and intentions. We give out this false air of dedication and devotion, carrying on activities very faithfully, very visible in church and its organs, with people also praising the quality of our commitment. Unfortunately, it goes beyond all these.

As an old year rolls out and a new one comes in about 12 days, we need an honest audit of our lives and motives. Are we all about the physical, or the spiritual? We live as we please, fully aware that God is a merciful God and he will definitely forgive if we return to him. We sin deliberately sometimes, confident of the fact that his mercy will always be available. We live as we please sometimes, telling ourselves that before we die, we will definitely return to God. As much as God's mercy is sure, there is nobody alive who knows the expiration of his own mercy or the time of God's visitation.

We are warned everyday that the coming of the Lord is at hand. We are reminded everyday that he will return shortly to take only those who are prepared for him. How can I make sure I am ready for him- it is to live daily in the consciousness of the righteousness of God. I cannot help myself, save myself or guarantee eternal life for myself; I must trust God totally that he is able to take me there. And when I trust him totally, I live right, I do right by his grace, I uphold his justice, I love whatever he loves and hates whatever he hates. My life becomes a daily testament to the greatness of God.

Today, i need to focus on God and his desire- righteousness and justice. I must repent of whatever assumptions or deliberate wrongdoing I have been involved in, and align myself with what God is doing. Sacrifices, whether daily or regularly, will not guarantee me eternal life, only a life lived as directed by Life itself will end well. His time of favour is here.